Monday morning.  We’re on our way out the door to take Kayla to school when I notice the little one’s hearing aids are missing.  I ask her where they are and she points to the kitchen.  Milestone alert (that only parents of deaf kids care about): she’s recently mastered the glorious ability of being able to point out where she has hidden or hurled them.  Of great benefit to me 99.9% of the time.  This day, not so much.

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I smell them before I see them (never a good sign), turn the corner and find them in all their glory.  INSIDE the microwave, one sparkly pink flame ball rotating ever so gracefully on the glass tray; the other, about to spontaneously combust in the far left corner.  Yes, our darling daughter cooked her “ears.”

Last night, Dave asked her where they were and she said “Broken!  Hot!”  She’s lucky she is cute.  And that we bought the insurance.

We love parties.  Our family often celebrates the same event many times, in different ways.  Ashy’s official “kid party” is not until May 1, but here’s how we’ve celebrated her 3rd year of life thus far…

Last Friday was her class party and the kids enjoyed vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting.  Children “graduate” her particular program when they turn 3, so it was also her last day.  She now moves on to the class next door… (and will go to school 9:15-1:45 M-F!)  It was a bittersweet day as we will miss her teachers (pictured bottom left w/ Ashy) very much.  She wore that huge special birthday hat all 3 hours and lifted her bib over her face when they sang to her.

On Sunday, her actual birthday, she requested lunch at her favorite restaurant, Red Robin (“Red Buuuurd”)  When she says these two words, she does so with sheer delight.  I think she loves their chicken fingers more than me.  And, from the way she inhaled the ice cream, she’s a fan of their sundaes as well.  NOT a fan, however, of the Red Robin busboy birthday choir.  She hid behind her Dora coloring book as they sang.  But I don’t blame her.  They are a bit creepy.

Because her birthday fell on a Sunday this year, we had church that night.  The little ones had cupcakes during the kids program and had a great time playing out in the backyard because the weather was beautiful.  After service, we prayed for her.  We prayed for her growth and development and for any decisions that would have to be made on her behalf.  Daddy prayed that she would be able to hear God’s voice.  Very special and sweet.  And she stayed still.  For the most part.

And finally, last night we had dinner at Grandmums.  Nan and Pops had been out of town for her actual birthday and Uncle Bert was in town visiting.  We had pork chops and twice baked potatoes.  And for dessert… more cupcakes!

I’m not gonna lie.  When Ashlyn’s teacher sent me an email with “today” as the subject, I got a little nauseous.  My first thought was that she smuggled a pomegranate into school and wailed on an unsuspecting classmate like she did to her sister earlier this week.

But I was pleasantly surprised…  And got a little misty-eyed myself after reading these precious words from her sweet Teacher Angela, who we absolutely adore.  She and Ashlyn share the same birthday.

“Hi Jessica and Dave,

I didn’t get an opportunity to say a proper goodbye or tell you about Ashlyn’s day.  It was so exciting and now makes me a little misty-eyed when I reflect on it.  Ashlyn loved connecting these bunnies at our table activity.  She played peek-a-boo several times with them.  She has been affectionate a little more lately with me and often runs up behind me giving me a hug.  I view that as a sign that she loves school and what we all represent here.  During circle time, she told us where the child was by saying “Sam a home” which was her way of saying “Sam at home” or “Mylon a speech Nikki” which means “Mylon at speech Nikki.”  She knew who had what prop and would say the name of the child or would immediately cue in when it was her time to act.  For example, we counted green animals, then each child got an animal.  When I asked for an animal, she said the name of the child who had that animal or raised her animal to be dropped in the box.  Snack time was precious.  Today she ran through all the words and sentence structures she knows.  Today, she said/signed together: 1-Angela, I want more round crackers; 2-I want yellow water (I gave her the response of “Oh, Ashlyn  you want water in a yellow cup, alright”); and 3-Angela, I want more water in cup yellow.  We played outside and when it was time to come in she ran to the rings and walked back to the classroom (no more negotiating or playing her game).  During story time, she participated in Brown Bear, Brown Bear and when her animal was read in the book, she placed it on the board.  It’s so cool to see her so excited about learning and using what she knows and has learned.  You guys are doing a great job of supporting her language, listening, and speech development.

Enjoy your weekend and see you on Monday,

Angela”

How many popsicles does a TWO year old with a DOUBLE ear infection get?  You guessed it!

Her two ears have taken us on quite a journey…  At birth, Ashlyn passed the newborn hearing screening with flying colors and seemed to respond normally to sounds as an infant.  By age 2 she was not saying much.  “Mama” and “Momo” (Elmo) were her only two words.  We chalked it up to a chatty older sister who took care of everything before she even asked and assumed she was just a late bloomer.

At her 2 year well-baby check-up, her pediatrician recommended speech therapy.  The process started with a routine hearing exam.  To our surprise, she failed the same test she passed at birth and was diagnosed with a severe loss on her right side and moderate/severe loss on her left.  Further testing revealed that she has Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct Syndrome (EVAS for short, thank goodness).  Basically, the tubes that transmit sound from her ears to her brain are slightly larger than they should be.  This causes a progressive hearing loss (which is why she heard normally at birth) and there is no known cure, surgical or otherwise.  We are unsure exactly when she developed her hearing loss or how bad it will get.

The silver linings to this cloud are many.  Technology is advancing so rapidly that it’s hard to keep up and we live 20 miles away from where much of it is happening.  Digital hearing aids are the best they’ve ever been and she is responding wonderfully to hers (and they are pink and her ear molds are sparkly and SUPER cute).  Also, her hearing loss seems to have leveled off for now.  She was screened again last November and it was the same as when she was originally diagnosed and we have another one scheduled for the end of the month.

We also have the option of cochlear implants if her hearing declines any further.  The downside to cochlear implant surgery is that it destroys all residual hearing so we are praying that she maintains what hearing she has left and that she continues to do well with the amplification that her hearing aids provide.

She is in a total communication program learning speech and sign language two days/week and has individual therapy twice a week.  “Signing Time with Alex and Leah” has become a family anthem of sorts.  Ashlyn LOVES Leah and I think Dave has a secret crush on Rachel but that’s a blog post for another day…

Less than a year ago she said only a handful of words and now she has quite a vocabulary (both speech and sign).  She is still pretty difficult to understand for anyone outside of our immediate family but is steadily improving.  We are so proud of her and the progress she has made and we are trying to be patient as she is learning.

She is only two, after all…

“In this world you will have trouble, but take heart for I (Jesus) have overcome the world…”  ~John 16:33